I am no longer the woman I despised before
I have let my lover be
watch her spend days and nights
wandering like a wild animal in a vast field
I pace back and forth around the cage
I have locked myself in
while she,
being the carefree creature she is,
have travelled far and wild
and I told myself
let the lover be
let her hair be swayed by the wind
let her tiptoe on the grass
as I watch her in careful fascination
and she watches me back
admiring me like a dusty, discolored painting in a museum
“There’s something delicate about her,” she says.
for in the confined nature of my soul
I have lived a thousand lives
I have seen people come and go
watched them like they were fire dancing in the wind
reached out to touch them
and pulled back right away
because the woman I no longer am
would touch the flame and keep it for the cold of the night
now I dance around my self-made cage
and I let my lover run free.